Best XI across all formats in 2016

Joe Root

In many ways, 2016 has been the year of almost for Joe Root. He almost broke Michael Vaughan's record of most Test runs in a calendar year by an Englishman, he almost took his side to their second World T20 title and he only just finish second on the leading run-scorers chart for the year behind Virat Kohli.

If those make it seem like 2016 was a disappointing year for Root, then that couldn't be farther from the truth. As the 26-year-old batsman broke new barriers, set his personal-best tally of runs and scored over 2,500 runs at an average of over 50. He also scored 18 fifties, which is one short of Tendulkar's tally of 19.

As a batsman, barring from adding a few more centuries, there was little Root didn't do. He doubled his career tally of T20I fifties and averaged over 60 in ODIs as he all but shed his image of being an impressive Test player but not as good in the shorter formats as he flourished irrespective of the format he played in.